ACROSS THE NET Melton Table Tennis May 2017 Edition 34 SUMMER SEASON WRAPS UP, ULTIMATE FUN HAD BY ALL, REAL BEER PONG, AND MORE In this edition we wrap up the Summer season, congratulate ourselves on having fun, praise a champion, talk about where you should go for a drink, and try to work out what 5 very different people have in common. SUMMER SEASON ENDS Our 10-week starter season has come to an end. Congratulations to the following players on a great start to the year. The A Grade Grand Final saw Matt Camilleri, John Roberts and Shannon Camilleri triumph over Chris Addis, Gavin Jackson and Ed Menegol. B Grade had Michael Kiki, Will Corluka and Connor Ziday taking the chocolates over Jim Scott, Syed Ahmed and Brian Guy. The battle for honours in the C Grade Handicap Competition went to Ross Lappin, Jason Craddock, and Angela Cricchiola filling in for Chris Ribbons over Christina Camilleri, Katia Corluka and Deb Schoen. Leading Player for A Grade was Matt Camilleri. Michael Kiki took out the B Grade Leading Player award. Annemarie Rothwell won the Leading Player for C Grade. Our congratulations go to them all. FUND-RAISING FUN AND CHRIS GETS HIS JUST REWARDS On the 13th of April, in the short break before the finals, Melton Table Tennis became the centre of the universe for table tennis fun. Table Tennis Victoria CEO, Dennis Makaling attended to present Chris Addis with his Para Hall of Fame award. When Dennis read out the list of titles won by Chris, the reason he got the award became obvious. Dennis was very generous with his time and stayed at the club for most of the night displaying his considerable skill. The sight of Dennis and Chris having a hit together made me realise that it was possibly the first time that MTTA has had 2 Oceania Champions on the same table at the same time. Our experiment with Ultimate Table Tennis was an outrageous success, with many members saying that they would like to have more of this going on. And, rest assured, we will. With 4 tables, an extended and higher net, together with a 55mm ball, everything is different. Double the length means you have to hit it harder, and double the width means you have more ground to cover. But that didn’t stop players from enjoying themselves. We also borrowed the game of “War” from Coburg Table Tennis and modified it for our own use. Players were pitted against others they wouldn’t normally face and were asked to do things that they normally wouldn’t do. The sight of right-handed pengrip player Lawrence Wu being forced to play left-handed using a shakehand grip was just one of the ridiculous tasks required. And Shannon Camilleri performed very well when forced to play sitting on a chair against Chris Addis. The aim was to put people outside of their comfort-zone, and the response was laughter all around. The end result of the night was that the members who attended raised a magnificent total of $448 which was donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal. This was a fantastic effort and our thanks go to those generous members. We will be playing Ultimate and War again at our practice night on the 11th of May. Be prepared to do the unexpected. Come along and join in the fun. OCEANIA SUCCESS FOR AUSSIES Australia has once again dominated at the ITTF Oceania Cup and Oceania Para Championships held recently in Fiji. In the Oceania Cup events, it was Australia all the way with David Powell defeating fellow Aussie Kane Townsend in the Men’s final. There was a similar result in the Women’s, with Jian Fang Lay taking the title by defeating Melissa Tapper. Melissa hit the top in the Oceania Para Championships, winning the Class 10 Women’s title over teammate Andrea McDonnell. The Gold keep on coming with Rebecca Julian winning the Class 6-8 Women’s Singles. The Aussie chants keep on going with Jessy Chen winning the Class 2-3 Men’s wheelchair event, and Caleb Crowden winning the Class 4-5 Men’s wheelchair event. Caleb’s match was enthralling to watch, with the final going the full 5 sets. In the last game, Caleb found himself behind 3-10, with his opponent, Jakoba Taberanibou of Fiji needing only a single point to take the title. Drawing on all the will he had, Caleb battled on and finally won 13-11 to grab the Oceania Championship in his division. In the Class 9-10 Men’s singles, Nathan Pellissier beat off fellow Aussie Barak Mizrachi for the title, while it was Gold, Silver and Bronze to the Aussies in the Men’s Class 6-7 event with Trevor Hirth beating Jake Ballestrino & Yasser Hussaini for the Oceania title. This was Australia’s best result ever for the Para’s at the Oceania Championships and we congratulate the team. PING PONG VS TABLE TENNIS A few years ago, I wrote an article bemoaning the fact that people saw a difference between ping pong and table tennis. As I stated then “Ping Pong” was a brand name for a package of bats, balls, and a net originally manufactured around 1902. The brand was eventually bought by Parker Bros in America where they vigorously enforced their copyright ownership of the name. Although the “Ping Pong” brand was dropped in the 1920’s, for some reason the name stuck, particularly in the U.S. I have always preferred the official designation of Table Tennis, and almost every association and club uses that name. Some people saw the distinction as being that table tennis is the sport, while ping pong is a game played in a garage or games room. As far as I’m concerned, table tennis played in a garage is not “ping pong”; it is “table tennis” being played in a garage. But it seems now that I need to slightly modify my opinion and recognise the existence of Ping Pong as a sport. Now in its fifth year, the World Championship of Ping Pong is a variation on the traditional game which is broadcast on sports channels around the world. Using the old-fashioned sandpaper bats, the championships feature 32 players, most of whom are sandpaper bat specialists. Matches are best of 3, with games played to 15. If the game goes to 14-all, the next point wins. During the match, each player can call for a “Double-point” play. Cue the flashing lights and loud music. They change to a different coloured ball so there can be no mistake that something special is about to happen. If the player who called for the “double-point” wins, he gets 2 points. If the opponent wins, the crowd is disappointed and play continues as normal. Apart from that, it’s table tennis. Very cleverly marketed and packaged table tennis, but table tennis nevertheless. Will it catch on? Well, it’s been going for years already and you only ever see it on TV, so I don’t really think so. But if you hear someone say they play ping pong, check their bat. If it doesn’t have sandpaper on it, they play table tennis. #PINGPONG BEATING #TABLETENNIS The ITTF website has proven that, even in the world of table tennis, there are slow news days. The proof of that was evident recently when they published an article discussing the relative merits of using #pingpong or #tabletennis on social media. To be perfectly frank, this is an issue so underwhelming that even I had never considered it. But apparently, this problem actually exists for the type of person who needs to be surgically removed from their devices to perform other functions in life. It seems that #pingpong has appeared 547,352 times in the period under investigation, while #tabletennis has only appeared 271,163 times. The author of the article (unnamed, and probably for good reason) tries to raise the point that linguistically “ping pong” is easier to say than “table tennis”. I could put up the argument that “drowning” is easier to say than “synchronised swimming”, but I doubt it would hold water. So the next time you’re posting to social media about our game, for the sake of clarity please read the article at the top of this page before deciding on which hashtag to use. Or, better still, forget the hashtag and just talk to people. BEER PONG FOR REAL Most of us love table tennis. Some of us like a drink (you know who you are. Don’t make me name names). So how would you like to combine both activities in a single venue? Or for that matter, multiple venues. Some pubs and clubs around Melbourne are starting to realise that, instead of a pool table, patrons are being drawn in by a table tennis table. Unfortunately there’s none over our side of the city that I know of yet, but it’s only a matter of time before the trend heads our way. In Collingwood, The Fox Hotel serves up great food, craft beers, spectacular wall-art, and a table tennis room. Yep, a separate room with a table tennis table, seating for spectators, and the all-important ledges for holding your pint in during points. Collingwood also has the Foresters Hall. With a table tennis table right in the middle surrounded by pool tables, watching the footy on the huge screen, eating freshly made pizza served until 2am, and sinking a few craft beers it’s a fun place to spend an evening… and a morning.